John Paul's Armadillo Oil Company

If I could give this place zero stars I would. Bland food, my cocktail had ZERO alcohol in it, they should just have called it fruit punch. The poor waitress even had the audacity to ask me if I wanted another overpriced soda (cocktail)?! The part of the restaurant that killed me was that they still ask if you want smoking or non-smoking when you walk into the restaurant. It's 2012, not 1980! The food was overpriced and tasteless. Yuck, waste of time and money.

Having heard the legends about John Paul's Armadillo Oil Company for years my first experience of the straightforward menu and borderline kitschy decor was amazing good fun! John Paul himself in rugged eye patch glory complete with raspy deep voice greeted us at the door. Aside from the stench of cross ventilation second hand smoke from the bar area wafting over to our booth the ambience was a rare treat of geniune roadhouse atmosphere vs the Applebee's and Texas Roadhouse corporate interior decorator wanna-be's... Those stuffed animals on the walls? yeah those were shot by JP himself which lends a certain credence to his swagger as he traverses his restaurant checking on guests.

As a proud Midwesterner who has had the pleasure and priviledge of growing up strong on really good beef grown and finished the way it should be as well as a tour of Japan as one of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children where I learned what Kobe beef was, I prefer my beef medium rare without an accompanying sauce to hide any inferiority of the purchasing or handling. In my opinion really good beef doesn't need steak sauce, if I need to ask for sauce there's definitely a problem in my book!

The flavor, tenderness, and quality of my steak and my partner's steak and rib combo were outstanding. My steak was cooked to perfection without the typical game playing of ordering rare to get a medium rare etc parody that normally occurs at those aforementioned places. The leftovers were just as good the next day which just shows the portions were more in line with expectations than other places I've reviewed like The Strip Club 104 where I've paid twice as much for a fourth of the food quantity and sadly quality as well.

Service was spot on, steaming hot towel delivered to the table after the ribs was a top notch touch that normally isn't found at this price point establishment. I'm just going to state it clearly I loved John Paul's Armadillo Oil Company, for what it is and especially for what it isn't, no pretention or faux fushion here, what you see is what you get. Definitely will return soon to try the Armadillo Eggs Appetizer!

One of the better rib / steak combo's I've had.  Great (more than half-) sized portions of each, and super flavor, temperature and tenderness.  The steamed cloth napkin at the end of the meal (like many Asian restaurants give before the meal) was a nice touch too.